bit of an update ... picked car up this morning all fixed. New rack required.
Question .... is the steering weight in a GTI any different to standard golf ? maybe just cause ive been driving diff car recently that it seems lighter to me than what it was .... maybe the older steering rack was on its way out ... thanks
Don't know about steering weight compared to other models, but the amount of assist given by the electric motor can be adjusted through coding using VCDS if it isn't to your liking.
How on vcds?
you can only do this on early golfs with VCDS don't quote me on year but say 2004-2006 ish otherwise trip to VW or some other people may be able to do it
Ah. Ive got an '06, so you may be right.
From memory Channel 44 "Steering Assist" then in the long coding helper there's a field in which a number can be entered, the description made if fairly obvious what it was, but I cant remember the text . Lower number = less assistance = heavier steering. I'd have to check again but think default was around 5 and I maybe backed it off to 4. A characteristic curve is kind of a map which determines how much assist the motor will give for varying scenarios of speed/steering input and the number selects from a set of pre-installed curves.
I was going to notch it down 1 at a time to see the difference as at the time I found the car a bit vague on dead straight 70mph roads. Reducing it by 1 did the trick and I never went any further.
As an aside, if you can find copies of the VW self study program relating to electromechanical steering it's pretty interesting. The steering assist corrects in the long and short term for crosswinds/road camber etc. And helps with self centering by driving the motor back when you're not applying torque to the steering wheel. At least, I found it interesting...
